Halloween in Unova
by Charizard99
Summary: Halloween is always a highly anticipated time in Unova, with one member of the gang certainly rather hyped. However when some bizarre events occur it is up to our three heroes to save Halloween. And could it be a great opportunity for another member of the gang to share their real feelings to someone very close to them? Rated T (Sorry for bad summary, was in a rush!)


**Hi guys! It's me Charizard58 and I'm back with a new story! This story is a one off to celebrate Halloween and therefore is not cannon with SGWM (or any of my other fanfics.) Anyway I hope you're having a good Halloween and I hope you enjoy reading this. I'm not going trick-or-treating tonight for like the first time ever, frankly as I'd much rather stay in and read all of your kind reviews. I've kind of got a lot to say which explains for the rather long author note below (in bold.) However if you do not wish to read it then I thoroughly recommend you just get straight on with the story...**

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**For those of you who have read the notes on my profile page I sort of have a lot of explaining to do. Firstly, I apologize to those of you who were expecting another fanfic in the next few days as I promised. It's just that to be honest I didn't expect this story to be this long. I only intended it to be like 4,000 words long with another fanfic to be made also that length. However in the end this story was around 12,000 words long which therefore meant it eventually took a lot longer to make than I would've hoped, which is why I've only made one story not two. However as they say quality not quantity so hopefully this story will be worth there not being a second one. Also the second story was meant to be a sequel to this one but when I discovered that I wouldn't be able to make the second story I kind of had to merge some of that into this which is why the ending is a bit shabby and some of the characters don't have as much involvement as I would've hoped. That's because their main involvement would've been in the next story which unfortunately doesn't exist. Anyway secondly those of you expecting another chapter of SGWM, I'm sorry I let you down again. You don't know how stressful writing a battle scene is and also how stressful things are for me at the moment. Nevertheless I will try to start working on the next chapter as soon as possible. Hopefully it will be ready sometime next month as I'd rather publish it sooner than later although I haven't started it yet so it may take some time. Still all that I can ask is for you to be patient, I'm sure your patience will come to something eventually. For now though I hope you enjoy this story (which by the way took me AGES!) I apologize for the enormously long author note; it's just that I had quite a lot to say. Anyway here is my story; I hope you enjoy it...**

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**(NOTE: There may be a couple of author notes during this story, which will be in bold. If you find them distracting then I thoroughly recommend you just ignore them, though don't come back asking me in a review what I've explained in that note if you were confused and couldn't be bothered to read the note.)**

There's nothing quite like Halloween in Unova. Of course this was pretty new to Ash and Pikachu but to the rest of the gang, this day in particular was very highly anticipated. Here in Unova people made a much bigger deal of Halloween than in other regions. It was probably the only day of the year apart from Christmas where pokemon wasn't a trainer's biggest concern. Everyone would always try and decorate their houses better than anyone else, while all the children in the area would go round knocking on those houses, asking for candy. If the person at the house did not give them any candy then usually the child would bring one of his pokemon out and it'd use some sort of move on he person at the door. It was not just the houses though, everywhere you go in the region there would be decorations everywhere. Yep, October 31st was just one of those nights where everyone was destined to have fun in some way...

Today, our three heroes are staying at Cilan's lodge in Striaton City. It wasn't the biggest place in the world but it was just somewhere the trio could go for a break whenever they felt they needed one. "Boy you haven't tidied this place in ages, have you Cilan?" Iris remarked sarcastically.

"Don't look at me," Cilan replied, trying to defend himself. "I always let my brother Chilli use it when I'm out. And we all know what he's like. Besides I haven't been here in ages with the gym, going on an adventure and all. Anyway we should be tidying this place up for tonight!"

"What?" Ash moaned. "Why should we tidy up, it's your lodge not ours!"

"Yeah besides does tonight really matter?" Iris added far from cheerily. Halloween was never really Iris' thing to be honest. This was not due to any bad experiences or anything like that; Halloween was just something that Iris never really saw the point of.

"Of course it matters!" Cilan snapped back in a hurry. "I want the neighbourhood to get a good impression of us! Before I had to spend Halloween with my brothers," he took a deep sigh before continuing. "And that sure didn't go well." As Cilan continued to tidy up the living room Ash and Iris just turned to each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"I wonder what's gotten into him lately," Iris began.

"Beats me," Ash replied. He turned to Cilan. "Hey Cilan, do you have everything planned for tonight?"

Cilan straightened out his bowtie as if he was about to begin with one of his 'lectures.' "Of course I do. If everything goes smoothly then tonight we're in for one real treat!"

"Oh boy," Iris began with an anime-tear by the side of her head.

"Usually all the kids come round at about half-seven; which is two hours from now, which is just about how long we need to set this place up. When we're finished this lodge will be the talking point of the neighbourhood for days and we'll have plenty of customers."

"Yeah good luck with that," Iris replied sarcastically.

As Cilan hurried off, continuing to decorate the house he looked angrily at the other two, who were just slumped on the couch. "Excuse me, what are you doing relaxing in front of the television? We've got two hours to set up! Are you even taking this seriously?"

"Nope," the two trainers replied in unison.

"Well you should be, rather than sitting in front of that television set for hours. It can't be good for your eyes!"

"And?" Iris responded; feeling the least bit bothered after what Cilan had just said. "I'm not sure about Ash but I'm not too stuffed about tonight."

"Yeah you can do what you want Cilan but I'm happy just to stay here," Ash added. Even though he didn't want to admit it, the prospect of staying home watching horror films with Iris was unbeatable. Truth be told, Ash actually didn't mind Halloween at all, he just really wanted to spend some quality time with Iris. This was because in all honesty he did have a slight thing for Iris, well more than slightly. He had quite a big thing for her. This had developed for quite a while; it was just that recently he hadn't really been able to spend that much time with her as they were both aiming for different goals with Ash wanting to become a pokemon master while Iris was aiming to be a dragon master. They wouldn't train with each other anymore and sometimes Iris would miss one of Ash's gym battles so she could do extra training. The last thing Ash wanted was for the two of them to drift apart completely, which is why he thought tonight would be a great opportunity for the two of them to properly bond in what would be the first time in ages.

"Besides I'm sure there's nothing that interesting on TV," Cilan said as he once again tried and failed to convince the other two to help out.

"What do you mean 'nothing interesting'?" Iris questioned. Come on Cilan, it's Halloween. UBC is showing horror films from now until midnight. We can't miss that!"

Cilan rolled his eyes. "Fine then! You two can laze around all night looking like complete fools while I put on one mighty show for tonight."

"Okay," both of them called causing Cilan to get more fed up.

"You do that then. But trust me; you're missing out on a lot."

"No we're not," they called back.

As Cilan stormed off, both trainers sat on the couch looking genuinely confused at Cilan's behaviour. "He's such a little kid," Iris said.

"Tell me about it," Ash replied.

Iris sighed. "I mean what's he fussing over? I just don't see the point in Halloween to be honest. Kids get dressed up and we've just got to stand there giving out sweets. Who invented Halloween anyway? And why? It's all just a big overrated hype in my opinion. None of it makes sense. Wouldn't you agree Ash?"

Ash just sat there completely oblivious. "Err yeah," he said rather quietly. Ash did like Halloween. Not quite as much as Cilan but nevertheless he had always liked Halloween slightly. He just wanted to act as if he had something in common with Iris for once.

"So what are we going to watch then?" Iris asked determinedly.

"Don't mind," Ash replied.

"Fair enough," Iris said rather disappointedly. "Why is Ash so quiet today?" Iris thought. "He's been quiet quite a lot recently." Ash's quietness disappointed Iris. She was really hoping that with Cilan out of the way for tonight maybe the two of them could talk a bit more. Iris liked Ash in some ways to be honest; not in the way that Ash liked her but still she had some soft spot for him. She had guessed by now that Ash liked her. This by no means haunted Iris. If anything she liked him more now after realising. She just wished that maybe Ash would talk to her. She wanted to give Ash a chance which is why she thought that if she started acting nice to her tonight then maybe he'd realise that there was nothing to worry about in her. Iris really didn't like to see Ash act unconfident around her.

Iris continued to scroll down the list of channels, looking for a good horror film for the two of them to watch. "Ooh what about this one?" she suggested out loud, waiting for some kind of response from Ash.

"Sounds good to me!" He replied slightly more enthusiastically this time. Iris smiled. She much preferred it when Ash talked much more confidently. In all honesty however Ash didn't even know what he was watching he was too busy daydreaming. Besides he probably wouldn't even like the film he had agreed to watch. But as long as it meant he got to spend quality time with his crush he didn't mind.

As the two trainers began to watch horror films, Cilan continued to prepare his spook house for tonight's extravaganza. He once again frowned as he watched the other two slumped on the sofa with big bags of popcorn and sweets. "How can watching films be any more important then preparing for tonight? I just don't get it. Besides Ash always told me he liked Halloween, why has he suddenly changed his mind?" He looked back at the two, Ash of which was staring at Iris while she was enjoying the movie. "Unless..." he thought mischievously. Then it hit him. "Wait a minute, why had I not noticed this before. That's why Ash has been tagging onto Iris for the whole of tonight. Darn I should've seen this coming for ages! It's not that he doesn't care about Halloween. He just wanted to spend some time with Iris. Can't believe for a connoisseur it took me this long to notice; although perhaps I could be a little more supportive towards him. Oh well, I'm sure tonight will really show him a lesson."

Meanwhile as an advert break appeared this time it was Ash who was trying to start of the conversations. "So have you seen this film before then?"

"Only five times," Iris replied.

"Wow seriously? Mustn't you be bored of it right now? Wouldn't you have rather watched something else for a change?"

"Of course not!" Iris responded. "I'll never get tired of this film. Besides quite a lot of it was filmed in the Village of Dragons."

"Oh right," Ash thought. After watching two Halloween specials on TV, it's fair to say that Ash wasn't one for horror films. On the other hand for someone who couldn't stand Halloween, there was nothing more Iris enjoyed than watching horror movies. She would enjoy every moment and always would try to recap the whole story to Ash; who didn't understand any of it.

"Well Ash did you enjoy it? What about the part where those dusclops' went up to those kids in the graveyard. I bet that scared you!"

"Err yeah," Ash replied not really concentrating on what Iris was saying.

"Aw it scared you Ash," Iris teased.

"Yeah whatever," Ash continued; daydreaming.

"Hey wait," Iris stopped and looked slightly annoyed. "You weren't watching any of that were you! You were just daydreaming the whole time!"

"Yeah fine, put on another film then," Ash replied, completely clueless as to what Iris was saying.

"ASH!" Iris yelled causing Ash to finally snap out of his daydream. "You weren't watching any of this, were you?"

"Well sorry," Ash answered back, finally aware of what was going on. "I didn't realise how boring horror films were!"

"It was only boring for you because you weren't watching! Gee Ash why are you so bad when it comes to spending quality time!"

For once, what Iris had just said had caused Ash to stop and think. "Did Iris really mean that?" He thought. "She must've! I guess that just shows how bad I am around people I like." He sighed. "Iris obviously was really hoping that for once that we could actually spend quality time together, and I blew it. I've got to stop being so careless around Iris. There she is trying to give me a chance for once yet every time it always ends up with her feeling annoyed with me even more. She'll never like me."

As several awkward moments passed between the two trainers, half seven finally arrived. Cilan stood in the living room observing the lodge, and feeling genuinely impressed with himself. The room was lit up with spooky dark blue lights while pumpkins were hanging on the ceiling on top of several built in sound and lighting affects showing several ghost pokemon. "Well guys, what do you think?" He asked boastfully.

"In all fairness you did do a good job of this house," Ash replied genuinely surprised at his connoisseur friend's effort.

"Well for an utter meaningless event," Iris added, slightly impressed though that couldn't change her view at all on Halloween.

"Oh come on Iris, don't be like that! Why won't you just get into the Halloween spirit for once?" Cilan asked. "Oh by the way, do you guys have costumes prepared of any sorts?" Both trainers looked up at Cilan and simply replied 'no' in unison. Cilan rolled his eyes. "I knew this would happen," he said slightly irritated. "Which is why I came prepared for both of you." Both Ash and Iris gulped. Cilan went into the other room to find the two costumes.

"Well I dread to think what costume he's prepared for us," Ash murmured.

"Same," Iris worried.

"Ta da!" Cilan expressed as he came back into the living room with two costumes in his hands. Both trainers looked on in horror as they saw the outfits Cilan had organised for them. One of them, for Ash, was a massive charizard onesie while the other, for Iris, was a dragonite onesie. "Don't they look great?"

"Er Cilan," Ash began. "What the hell are those?"

"I am never wearing that!" Iris exclaimed mortified.

"Too late now," Cilan replied grinning cheekily.

"Forget it," Iris responded angrily. "You can't make me wear that! I'll look like a moron!"

"Yeah besides why aren't you wearing a costume anyway," Ash asked.

"Ooh I almost forgot!" Cilan suddenly realised that he himself was not wearing any kind of Halloween outfit. He didn't want to be hypocritical so he rushed into a different room so he could put his costume on.

Iris turned to Ash. "Well I wonder kind of disaster he'll look like," Iris said half embarrassed.

"I'd rather not imagine if I'm honest," Ash replied.

Cilan returned with his outfit on. "Well guys, what do you think?" The look that both trainers gave when they saw the outfits Cilan had got them was nothing compared to the look on their faces now as Cilan wore a massive panasge outfit. Neither trainer wanted to dishearten Cilan but in all fairness he looked awful! He had a bright beige long sleeved shirt as well as green trousers and the worse part was he wore a bizarre green afro to top it all off. The afro didn't even make him look like a pansage; he just looked like a massive broccoli. "Now are you with me or not?" As much as Ash and Iris really didn't want to wear the outfits Cilan had supplied them, the last thing they wanted was to be seen with a massive broccoli and for everyone to know that it was them hanging around with the broccoli.

"Er yeah, I'll just be putting my costume on now," Ash replied as if he had no choice.

"Me too," Iris added nervously.

Without further ado, both trainers put on their outfits. They didn't particularly like wearing them but looking at Cilan it could have been a whole lot worse. Ash went over to the other two in his charizard onesie. "Guys I know what you're thinking so please don't comment."

"Looks great Ash," Cilan remarked.

"Oh come on Ash," Iris responded. "It can't be any worse than what I'm wearing." Iris looked in the mirror at herself wearing the dragonite onesie.

"It's not that bad," Ash commented. "Actually I think it suits you a bit."

"Don't fool around with me," Iris hit back, slightly embarrassed.

"No I mean it, it really does suit you." Ash was not lying. In all honesty he did think Iris looked good in her onesie. It made her look rather skinny, as well as making her legs look rather good. Ash obviously didn't want to say this right up to her face but that sure was what he thought.

Iris chose not to reply to what Ash had just said. Either he was just messing around with her or he really was trying to compliment her. This didn't annoy Iris by any means; it's just that Iris always had difficulty replying whenever someone complimented her. She barely ever got complimented anyway so she was never fully convinced that someone was telling the truth when complimenting her. Still if Iris knew Ash, he wasn't that unfaithful. He must've meant what he had just said. That thought made Iris smile inside. She didn't want to show it in front of Ash but still what he said did mean something to her deep down.

After final preparations, everything was ready. The costumes were sorted, the house looked great and a massive bowl of sweets was sat by the door for when what would hopefully be a lot of people came knocking. As Cilan was doing final checks with all the sound and lighting effects, both Pikachu and Axew were finally allowed to join in on the fun. Previously they had to stay in another room so that they didn't interfere with Cilan's decorating. Ash and Iris were slightly annoyed by this as they expected Cilan to trust both the pokemon in that they wouldn't do anything stupid but for this night Cilan just couldn't afford to take the risk; even though he had known both of them for nearly a year now and the two of them had supposedly settled down. "Right guys, make sure you're on your best behaviour tonight," Ash instructed to both the eager pokemon. "We all know what Cilan can be like if this does go wrong," he whispered.

**(NOTE: For any of you who haven't read any of my other fanfics, pokemon dialogue will be written in English even though they cannot speak English. You're just going to have to ignore the fact that it's written as English.)**

"Yeah right," Pikachu replied.

"And make sure you don't eat any of the candy," Iris added causing both pokemon to moan. "They're for the people who come knocking at our doors."

As the trainers walked away both pokemon continued to speculate. "What are they wearing?" Axew asked.

"Beats me, but they sure do match," Pikachu replied causing both pokemon to snigger.

As the night kicked off, Cilan could only wait patiently for the first victim of his house of horrors. He had waited a few minutes now but still no one had knocked. "Er Cilan, are you sure anyone's actually going to come?" Iris enquired. "So far we've had no one come whatsoever."

"Just be patient already Iris!" Cilan snapped. "No one said that they had to come right away. Besides the peak time of Halloween is usually around eight o'clock. That's ten minutes from now."

"Well no offence Cilan but usually we would have had some people come round by now," Ash said as he butted into the other two's argument.

"You've just got to be patient. Someone's bound to come at some point." However unfortunately for Cilan, after another half an hour still no one had came to their door.

"See Cilan, I told you no one cares about Halloween," Iris insisted, which certainly did anything but lighten up the mood.

"Yeah come on Cilan," Ash added. "Just admit it; no one's going to come."

Cilan however was not responding. "Look we're sorry Cilan but I tried to tell you that this wouldn't work," Iris continued to convince Cilan.

Cilan was still rather confused. "Kids wouldn't usually just ignore a certain house. Something must be up." He went and took a brief look outside. To his surprise the street looked utter empty. There were others also standing outside their houses looking rather confused, wondering why no one had come to their house. Cilan had never seen a street so deserted. And bearing mind tonight was Halloween so many people should be active on a night like this. He came back outside. "Well it appears that the street is pretty deserted."

"No surprise there then," Iris muttered.

"Maybe we should go and investigate," Cilan considered. "Do you two want to come with?"

"Well bearing in mind we have nothing else to do, I may as well go," Iris decided. "And besides, there's no one around to see us looking this daft."

"Count me in," Ash added, clenching his fist. "Pikachu can come with us too."

"Yep and so can Axew," Iris said.

"They may as well," Cilan replied. "Anyway we should probably come out prepared just in case. One of you two go and get the torch."

Iris was about to volunteer until Ash butted in. "I'll get it!"

"By the way it's in the middle draw over there!" Cilan instructed. "I imagine you'll be able to find it."

"I've got it!"

As the trio, and their pokemon, walked outside into the darkness, there was an almost spooky atmosphere in the air. Not only because obviously it was Halloween, but also due to the emptiness of the area. "Guys, where are we going?" Iris asked, slightly spooked out.

"Not quite sure yet," Cilan replied, shining the torch on everything around him. "But it will eventually become apparent. For now we've just got to keep a good look out for anything suspicious."

Suddenly, with his magnifying glass, Cilan discovered a footprint just outside the forest. "Here's our first clue," he began, looking down and inspecting the footprint.

"Come on Cilan that could just be a random footprint, it could be anyone's leading to anywhere," Iris replied, clearly not as convinced.

"Maybe," Cilan continued. "But maybe we should walk in it's direction, just in case." As the trio walked on into the forest, shining the torch around, they started to hear rumbles in the trees above.

"What could that be?" Pikachu asked uncertainly.

"Not sure," Ash responded. "Maybe we should listen out."

"I'll go and have a look," Pikachu replied. Ash tried desperately to hold him back but wasn't quick enough as Pikachu was already climbing quickly up the tree.

"Well this isn't going to end well," Iris remarked.

Pikachu was now walking along the branch where the noise appeared to be coming from. He walked along and was finally approaching somebody. Pikachu lightly tapped the person's shoulder causing them to jump back and yell in shock. Pikachu slightly taken aback by his reaction, accidently panicked and therefore let out a thunderbolt on the poor person, causing them to fall out of the tree. Slightly concerned Pikachu jumped out of the tree to see who he had just attacked. Everyone looked in shock as a familiar face fell to the ground.

"Huh? Cameron!" They all called in unison as they saw their close headband wearing friend fall to the ground. This was followed by his partner pokemon Lucario also jump to the ground to help his trainer up.

"Yep, that's my name," he replied, scratching his head after the recent impact. "Oh man, where am I?"

"Cameron what are you doing out in the forest?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, I got lost, the rest is history."

"Do you remember anything that happened?" Iris asked.

Cameron looked slightly confused as if his mind had just blanked. He then pulled his headband right back, before letting go and letting the band slap him on the forehead. "Agh," he yelled in pain before suddenly everything that had happened came right back to him. "I was just practising in the forest with Lucario until I saw a load of kids walk into a haunted looking house. It'd been over an hour yet still no one came out. I went to investigate by walking into the house myself, but then a dusknoir came right out at me. I panicked and ran away right out here and hid up in the tree. Anyway, why are all you guys dressed like that?"

"Oh boy," Iris thought. "I was hoping he wouldn't notice."

"Well because it's Halloween," Cilan replied.

Cameron looked genuinely confused. "Halloween?"

The trio sighed and all had animetears down their faces. "Yeah, tonight's Halloween, didn't you know?" Ash asked.

"Halloween is tonight?! Why did I not know? That explains why everyone was staring at me in their costumes!"

"Well this is awkward," Iris muttered.

"Anyway, where is this haunted house then?" Cilan asked.

"You just follow the path I think. Why are you looking for it?"

"We're just all intrigued as to why Halloween is so quiet this year. It's never usually this deserted."

"Do you want to come with us?" Ash asked.

"Sure," Cameron replied. "Let's go!"

On the way discussion was rather awkward between Ash and Pikachu. "Now Pikachu what do you say to Cameron for lashing out like that?"

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah Cameron sorry about that," he apologized slightly embarrassed.

"It's alright bud," Cameron replied. "Besides had you not came along, I'd still be wetting myself up in the tree."

"Er yeah about that," Ash replied with an animetear. "Anyway Cameron, as you've already been to this place, why don't you show us the way? You do know the way right?"

Cameron looked slightly puzzled once again. He then did one of his trademark forehead slaps with his headband, much to the other's disapproval. "Of course I do, just follow me!" Cameron led the way with the others behind him. "By the way I like your costumes."

The trio were all unsure as to whether Cameron was being sarcastic or not but just took it a compliment anyway. "Er thanks," they all said.

"I like how your costume Ash matches with Iris'."

That completely shook both of them. "Match?" They both said in unison. They looked at each other and in all fairness, just like Pikachu had pointed out, they did match.

"Told you that they matched," Pikachu said to Axew, who had remained quiet for most of the encounter.

"This is sure going to be awkward," Axew added.

Iris turned and looked at Cilan, who couldn't help but find the whole situation slightly amusing. Iris looked rather angry. "Cilan, did you do this on purpose? Buy us outfits which look alike?" She whispered to him angrily.

"No I didn't I swear," Cilan responded though it didn't sound that convincing a response as he was still laughing.

"Grr, Cilan, why did you have to screw up so big this time?"

Ash watched Iris get angry with Cilan. Though he couldn't hear, he had a good idea of what was going on. He for one was not at all embarrassed about having an outfit which looked rather alike to his crush. It was just seeing her complain about it right in front of Cilan which made him feel slightly concerned.

The rest of the walk to the house was now especially awkward. Cilan and Iris were not talking to each other anymore and therefore Ash didn't really feel like talking either. "Hey Cilan can I borrow you r torch?" Cameron asked. "If I'm right then the house should be very close. But you need a torch to see it when the night is this dark."

"Sure thing," Cilan replied, passing Cameron the torch. "If we're that close then go ahead."

Everyone could now start to feel the spooky atmosphere re-emerge as they came closer to the house.

"Gee it sure is spooky out here," Axew commented, slightly freaked out by the atmosphere.

"I'll say," Pikachu added. "Wonder where we are."

Pikachu's concerns were finally solved as right in front of the gang laid a massive, haunted looking mansion. "Wow this place really is big," Ash remarked, sounding very cliché.

"Certainly is," Cilan continued. "Bigger than I would have pictured!"

"Just wait until you get inside," Cameron responded, making the rest of the gang feel even more worried. As they entered the house, they straight away felt a rather uncomfortable chill going down their spines as well as spooky sounding noises, amongst the darkness.

"Hello," Iris called, causing a haunting echo across the rather large hallway they had entered. There was no response whatsoever, so Iris decided to try again. There was still, however, no response. "Gee this is actually rather creepy," she continued as the others tiptoed on behind her.

"Hmm, weird," Cilan thought as he shined his torch everywhere.

"Man this is rather scary," Cameron remarked while trembling. "Right, Lucario?" He looked over to Luacrio who didn't look as scared but was just trying to play along with his trainer. "Oh well, I can't chicken out this time. I've got to go take a look. Besides, there are no such things as ghosts' right?" He began to speak and ask rhetorical questions at quite a pace; sounding ever so paranoid in every word he spoke. "They won't hurt me will they? OH MAN I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" He shouted, before running off in a panicked state.

"Wait Cameron," Cilan began as he went running after him, trying to stop him front running away.

"What on earth did I just see?" Iris asked looking rather confused.

"Beats me," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But trust me; he'll be back."

"Lets hope so; and Cilan."

"Anyway we should probably continue searching," Ash said, trying to put the rather bizarre events he had just witnessed behind him.

"But how can we? Cilan has the torch?"

Though Ash had completely forgotten about this factor, he was still urged to carry on. "He does, but still we must have a look." The duo, and their pokemon, went forward a few steps in the pitch darkness. However it was not long before they were confronted by a rather eerie light, coming towards them. It was a red light, which as it came closer to the duo appeared bigger and bigger.

"Err Ash what is that?" Iris asked, slightly scared. However before Ash could answer, a dusknoir emerged. It had a purple swirl around its head and headed straight towards the poor duo. They were now screaming as the dusknoir launched a hypnosis attack on them. Both Ash and Axew saw this coming and therefore managed to hide behind their trainers just in time. Unfortunately though, Ash and Iris fell to the floor completely hypnotised and unconscious. The dusknoir then hovered away from the scene.

**(NOTE: Just to let you know I am not too sure about dusknoir being able to learn any hypnotising moves but if he can't then please don't hate and simply try to go along with the story.)**

As both Ash and Iris lay on the floor unconscious, Axew and Pikachu looked completely shocked, though on the other hand could count themselves seriously lucky that they too had not gone down. Still seeing their trainers down was not a pleasurable sight. "Oh no!" Axew panicked. "Both Iris and Ash have been hypnotised and put to sleep!"

"How could this have happened?" Pikachu shared his concern.

"We've got to go and tell Cilan!" Axew suggested.

"Yeah, I guess you're right but where is he? He's probably still looking for Cameron."

"And? Never mind that we've got bigger problems! Come with me!" Axew continued as he ran off dragging Pikachu by the arm.

"But surely we should be keeping a watch on those two!" Pikachu suggested, trying desperately to get Axew to let go of him. However it proved no help as Axew continued to drag him in search of Cilan.

Meanwhile, just outside the forest was a rather exhausted and shameful looking Cameron, with his partner pokemon Lucario looking pretty embarrassed too for his trainer, as well as Cilan who stood next to him, trying to calm him down. "Now Cameron, why did you suddenly freak out like that?" Cilan asked, looking slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry," Cameron replied looking mortified. "I just panicked. It won't happen again Cilan I promise you!"

"Okay then Cameron. So what are you going to do then? Stay with us and explore this place and save Halloween or run back home like a coward?" Cameron, in all honesty, was ever so slightly tempted to go the coward's way out and simply go back home. However as he was about to make his mind up two pokemon came rushing over quickly, looking rather worried.

"Cilan, come quick you've got to help!" Pikachu rushed.

"Both Ash and Iris were just hypnotised by a dusknoir in that house!" Axew added.

"What?" Cilan replied in shock. "What happened?"

"I don't remember completely well," Pikachu responded. "All I can recall is a dusknoir, which appeared to be hypnotised in some way just came over to Ash and Iris and launched a hypnosis move on them, completely making them unconscious.

"Oh no! Ash and Iris! We've got to go and help!" Cameron suggested before rushing off, with Cilan and both the pokemon following.

They arrived back at the haunted house and walked over to the area where the event happened, with Pikachu leading the way. "Look, right here!" He called. However he turned round and looked on in horror as both the trainers were no longer there. "What? Where have they gone?"

"They've disappeared," Axew panicked.

"Well where did they go?" Cilan asked.

"I don't know," Axew replied feeling rather guilty.

"Are you saying that you two left those two lying around unconscious completely without at least one of you keeping an eye out?" Cilan questioned rather disappointed with both the pokemon.

Axew gulped. "See Axew," Pikachu turned to Axew looking rather annoyed. "I told you we should have stayed here and kept an eye on them! What were you thinking? They could be anywhere right now!"

"I'm sorry. I screwed up again!" Axew replied with an animetear, looking rather embarrassed.

"Damn right you did!" Pikachu snapped back angrily.

"Wait, wait, wait," Cilan began, trying to stop the two from arguing. "There's no need to fight guys. We've got to be looking out for the other two!"

"But as Pikachu said they could be anywhere right now," Cameron replied slightly nervously.

"Exactly," Cilan continued. "So why are we just standing around? We've got to go and get searching already!"

Meanwhile, Iris opened up her eyes in what was a rather dark and abandoned looking room. She could hear the suspicious sound of others around her also worrying amongst the darkness. Though bearing in mind the room was near to pitch black, only the door window providing any source of light, all Iris could see was herself; no one else. However as she looked down at herself she was shocked to discover that she had somehow been tied up. What was worse was that she was tied up back to back to Ash, meaning he couldn't help her in any way. Seeing this, Iris panicked. She tried desperately to wake Ash up so he could see what was going on. "Ash, Ash, wake up, quickly!"

After a few seconds of Iris calling for him to wake up, Ash finally began to open his eyes but also woke up to the shock of being completely tied up. "What! What's going on?" Ash asked in complete astonishment. "Why am I all tied up all of a sudden?"

"Ash, Ash calm down," Iris responded urgently.

"Is that you Iris," Ash asked, very much unaware of the situation.

"Yes Ash, it's me,"

"Oh thank god for that," Ash replied, rather relieved knowing that Iris was with him.

"While we were hypnotised we must've been taken here and then tied up."

"Is anyone else here?" Ash asked.

"I think so. It certainly sounds like it, though I can't quite see."

"Well this explains where all the kids are this Halloween."

"It certainly does! But still we have a lot more important issues going on right now. I mean for a start how are we going to get out?"

"I'm not too sure to be honest, though hopefully Cilan's aware of something. Hopefully him and Cameron, with help from the pokemon, can try and rescue us and all of the other victims here."

"I guess they might discover us at some point. But I'm just concerned about Axew. I hope he's alright. Hopefully he's not too scared right now about his trainer being missing. Hopefully he's safe."

"Let's hope so. Same with Pikachu, I sure do hope that he's alright out there. But if I know Pikachu he'll be trying desperately to rescue us. We've been separated before and usually we pull through it together. I guess we just have that special bond seen as I've known him for that long. Besides that's what happens with friends right?"

"Yeah I guess you're right. Only problem is I haven't known Axew for as long as you've known Pikachu. I hate to doubt him but sometimes I worry that we haven't quite discovered that special bond yet. I mean he's still relatively young. Hopefully if he appreciates me then he'd help save me right now."

"Don't worry. I'm sure Axew has plenty of respect for you. I mean sure you've only been with him for just under a year now but I'm sure you've grown to bond with him in a really special way."

"Aw you really think so Ash?"

"Yeah, of course I do. Besides you've managed to gain Cilan and my own trust, I'm sure it'll be the same with Axew."

"Wow thanks Ash!"

"And besides you have lots of other close friends. In fact you have one certain friend who really does care for you a lot. A friend who's always been there for you and no matter what happens always will be."

"Wow! That means so much! I really do appreciate Cilan for all of that."

Ash suddenly paused at what he just heard. "Cilan? Really? Oh come on man I thought I was really opening up to her," he thought very disappointedly. "Maybe Iris just doesn't see me as much as she sees Cilan." That thought really did hurt deep down and though it might have not been true for all he knew, just thinking about it burnt slightly.

Back by the hallway, Cilan, Cameron, Lucario, Pikachu and Axew all continued their search of the missing duo across the house. They began to call their names repeatedly which kept proving unsuccessful as they would keep getting no response. "Where on earth could they be?" Pikachu asked himself.

"I'm not sure," Axew responded. "But I just hope that Iris is alright. Hopefully she's not panicking too much over me."

"It'll be alright. I've been separated from Ash plenty of times but in the end things turn out alright."

"I guess. But then again I'll never know if Iris is okay out there or not."

"Just don't worry about it. We'll keep searching for them, even if it takes us into next month. We won't rest until they are found and are alright!"

"Good, because without Iris; I'm never going to be able to rest."

"Guys we have better keep searching," Cilan suggested. "Though I'm not sure splitting up is an option worth trying right now. We've better stick together so nothing worse happens. Besides we don't want to lose anyone else."

"But this place is so big! It could take us ages to get through it!" Pikachu protested. "Why don't Axew and I go off and explore one area while you three go and check another?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea right now. But then again Ash and Iris could be in real danger for all we know. Perhaps we should just try and split into groups. I'll go with Cameron and Lucario while you guys can go together."

"Sounds good to me!" Pikachu replied optimistic. At this rate even though any one of them was vulnerable to getting lost, or even worse also being hypnotised, no one felt that they had much to lose, now they had briefly lost their trainers/friends. It was a big risk but if they were going to find the other two then it was one they would have to take.

"Yeah I'll go off with Cilan," Cameron suggested. "Come on Lucario, you're with me aren't you?" Lucario clenched his fist determinedly. "Sounds awesome!"

"Now you guys better be safe out there," Cilan warned. "After all the last thing we want is for yet another one of us to get lost."

"Okay we won't!" Axew insisted before heading a separate way to the other two."

"Well then," Cilan began. "The three of us better get searching."

As the gang began to split, up in a tree just outside the house were three familiar nuisances, watching on. Yep, as the whole situation was kicking off, Team Rocket could only grin as they saw it all through their binoculars. "We really do owe Team Dim Sun for lending us that gigaremo," James began.

"I'll say," Jessie added. "The boss is going to be chuffed!"

"And that dusknoir we caught is doing its job!" Meowth continued.

"This sure was a good idea of ours to try and stop Halloween. But now we must wait until the coast is clear before we can pounce," James insisted.

Back inside the dim room filled with innocent victims Ash still appeared stunned by everything that was happening. "Well this sure hasn't been a great Halloween," Ash moaned.

"I'll say," Iris replied. "You know I was really looking forward to it this year, just relaxing while watching scary movies. Why did Cilan have to bring us here? Oh well it doesn't really matter. You didn't like any of those films anyway."

"What of course I did!" Ash replied.

"Ash, I'm not stupid. I know you found them boring. I shouldn't have forced you to watch them with me."

"But Iris I liked doing that! I really did like spending time with you."

"So did I. I guess I just wanted to spend some more time with you, though I wouldn't have wanted to do so in this way."

"Really? Well I don't think this is that bad, to be honest. I mean we may not be in the most glamorous place but at least we're spending time with each other."

"Yeah I guess you're right. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're spending time with each other I don't mind the destination."

Ash sighed. "Look I'm sorry about what happened tonight. I know that you really wanted to have a fun time with me. I shouldn't have just overlooked you like that."

"It's alright Ash. There's no need to worry about it. I guess it's my fault because of the way that I've drifted away from you lately. I'm really sorry about that. Hopefully we can end all that and be close friends again."

"Sounds great!" Ash replied.

"It sure does. I'll always make sure that I'm there for you wherever and whenever."

"Me too! Like I always have been and always will be. Because I just know that you're going to be a dragon master someday."

"Aw thanks Ash! That really means a lot! Just like I know that you're going to be a pokemon master!"

"Gee thanks Iris! If I weren't all tied up right now then I'd give you one great big hug."

"So would I Ash, so would I."

Meanwhile Cilan and Cameron began to search the house in the direction they took. "Well so far we've looked in three rooms and we haven't yet seen anything," Cameron complained.

"Oh come on Cameron, there must be something here that's been causing all this trouble," Cilan replied. "We're just yet to find it."

However as they continued their search, they came across something rather suspicious in the main room of the mansion. "What could this be?" Cameron asked.

Cilan took a brief inspection of it with the torch and magnifying glass. "Why it looks to me like some kind of pokemon hypnotising device. A gigaremo I believe it is called."

"A gigaremo? What's that?" Cameron asked.

"It's a device that I believe originated from the Almia region. It was invented by Almia's very own Team Dim Sun, yet somehow one of them made it over here in Unova."

**(NOTE: For any of you who are fans of the pokemon franchise, but don't play the Pokémon Ranger games, the gigaremo is a device out of the Pokémon Ranger game 'Shadows of Almia' used by Team Dim Sun, the bad guys, to try and hypnotise pokemon and get them under their command. I know it's pretty off-topic in this story but I've been playing a lot of Pokémon Ranger lately and also I really suffered from writers block which explains as to why I've brought the gigaremo into this fanfic.) **

"Could it be Team Rocket by any chance?"

"Could easily be," Cilan replied, holding several suspicions as he scratched his chin like a detective off the TV. "This must be what caused that dusknoir to become brainwashed."

"Should we try and destroy the machine then?"

"We must," Cilan insisted.

"Okay then, Lucario use Aura Sphere on that gigaremo!" Cameron demanded. Lucario used the move but somehow it failed as despite a few scratches, no serious damage was done to the gigaremo. "What!"

"Oh no," Cilan worried. "The machine looks to be pretty much invincible."

"Seriously? Then how on earth are we meant to destroy it?"

"The only way to malfunction the gigaremo by the looks of things is to unlock it and disconnect the system. Only problem though is for that we need a key. And we don't know where that is yet?"

"Then we must look for it."

"We have to. Though I'm not sure leaving the gigaremo unguarded is a good idea."

"Then I'll stay back here with Luacrio. We can keep an eye on it."

"Okay then. I guess that would work, although I may need to go with a pokemon of some sort. I should probably go and find Pikachu and Axew. Then the three of us can search for the key together. Does that sound alright to you?"

"Yeah I guess so," Cameron replied, not sounding too convinced but nevertheless willing to do whatever if it meant saving two of his best friends.

"Great! Then I'll meet up with you soon," Cilan replied before rushing off.

At the other side of he haunted, abandoned mansion were both Axew and Pikachu, both also searching for a breakthrough of some sort. "Are you sure that we're actually going to find anything here?" Pikachu asked as Axew inspected what must have been the third bathroom of their encounter.

"You never know," Axew insisted. "Besides have you ever seen a horror film? The monsters are always hidden in the bathroom somewhere."

"Ash never really watches horror films so I don't either to be honest. But still there's no point searching here. There's lots more places where we could find something."

"Oh really now?" Axew replied, unconvinced by Pikachu's claims.

"Yeah, why don't you follow me this time? Maybe I might actually find something useful for once."

"Oh come on Pikachu, like you'll ever find anything that interesting."

Pikachu sighed. "Just follow me okay?"

As the two pokemon continued to bicker, they finally went silent as they saw something familiar and suspicious. It was a red light which once again turned and came towards them. Suddenly out of nowhere popped a dusknoir- the dusknoir that had hypnotised Ash and Iris. The dusknoir came straight towards them, about to launch a hypnotising attack. Both pokemon, aware of this, screamed and somehow managed to dash away, just before the dusknoir was able to use the move. As they managed to escape into another room, both pokemon sat down on the floor panting desperately, trying to regain their breath. "Wow did you see that?" Axew asked gobsmacked by it all really.

"I sure did," Pikachu replied. "It was lucky we managed to escape just in time, or we could also be in deep trouble just like our trainers."

"Definitely, anyway talking of our trainers shouldn't we be looking out for them?"

"Right, yes we should, as long as we've definitely cleared the dusknoir."

"I sure hope so; we should walk on a bit just in case."

However as both pokemon began to walk on a bit, they came across Cilan in his daft pansage outfit. "Ah there you are. Did you find anything?"

"We just saw the dusknoir," Pikachu replied urgently.

"He came right at us again!" Axew added. "It was lucky that we managed to escape!"

"It certainly was," Cilan replied, "Oh and by the way have you seen a key anywhere?"

Both pokemon looked to each other, both shrugging their shoulders. "Er no sorry."

"Ah that's a shame! Anyway, at least you saw Dusknoir. For now though we should be getting back to Cameron. We all know what he can be like when you leave him on his own." On that note Cilan led both the pokemon back to where he had discovered the gigaremo.

"So did you find anything?" Pikachu asked.

"We think so. We saw what looked to be a gigaremo; a hypnotising device from the Almia region. That could be what's caused that dusknoir to be hypnotised."

"Er Cilan, you do remember where you left Cameron," Axew tried to clear.

"Of course I do. Why?"

"Well are you sure that you were right to just leave him be like that?" Pikachu asked, not sounding very convinced at all.

Cilan began to ponder as he approached the door to the room where he had discovered the gigaremo. "Well we all know Cameron, but I trust him on this occasion to keep a secure eye out." However Cilan's reassurance came to nothing in the end as when he opened the door, he looked on in horror at what was going on. There Cameron was, lying fast asleep by the gigaremo while Dusknoir took an unconscious Lucario into a room by the side. "Cameron! What on earth is going on?" Cilan yelled furiously.

That caused Cameron to wake up, who looked around for a few seconds, trying to recap where he was. However as Cameron regained focus he looked on in terror as he saw Dusknoir taking Lucario into the room. "What no! Lucario! I've got to stop it!" Cameron rushed over to the door to the room where Lucario had taken but as he was about to pull it open and try and save his partner pokemon, Dusknoir managed to lock it. "No! Lucario! What have I done?"

Watching Dusknoir as it locked the door with a key; trapping Lucario, made Cilan suddenly realise. "Look, Dusknoir has the keys! Maybe those keys are the ones controlling the gigaremo and the room where everyone's been taken to." As Cilan continued to discuss the clues, he looked on at Cameron, who was continuously hitting his forehead with his headband in stupidity. "Cameron how could you do this? I give you one simple task and then you fall asleep without any kind of hypnosis effect."

"I'm so sorry Cilan," Cameron pleaded before hitting himself again.

"Okay, but hitting yourself with a headband certainly isn't going to help. Pull yourself together!"

"Yes Cilan," Cameron replied, like a little kid who had just done something naughty trying to explain everything to their parents.

"Anyway, we've better be stopping Dusknoir before anything worse occurs to anyone/anything else. Pikachu, Axew, it looks like you two are the only ones who are going to be any use for now? Are you with me on this occasion?"

"Count me in!" Pikachu answered determinedly.

"Yeah me too!" Axew added.

"Great!" Cilan replied. "Now then Pikachu start off with Thunderbolt!" Pikachu used a massive thunderbolt move on Dusknoir which hit him straight on, causing some damage. "Great start Pikachu!" Cilan then turned to Axew. "Er now Axew use Dragon Rage!" This move also hit Dusknoir, inflicting some damage but not too much. "Great stuff guys!" Cilan expressed joyfully. However, Cilan's cheerfulness didn't last for long as Dusknoir immediately hit back with a Hex move, inflicting damage on both Axew and Pikachu. "Oh no!" Cilan expressed. Not much damage had been done to either pokemon all in all but nevertheless the last thing Cilan wanted was for Ash and Iris to be trapped, as well as both of their pokemon being severely hurt. Therefore every attack that hit either of them would make Cilan rather anxious.

"Oh no, Cilan better defeat that dusknoir!" Cameron thought, panicky as he watched on. "I really should have brought my other pokemon for this; or just taken better care of Lucario."

Meanwhile Cilan continued to try and stop the evil dusknoir that hovered in front of him, literally holding the keys to rescuing Ash, Iris and Lucario. "Okay Pikachu, don't let Dusknoir intimidate you, use Iron Tail!" Once again Dusknoir was unable to dodge the move, which hit him straight on. "Great work Pikachu, keep it up! Dusknoir surely can't hold out for that much longer! Now Axew, you return to the stage, use Dragon Rage once again!" Axew fired another Dragon Rage at Dusknoir, the blast so big it caused him to lose sight of its enemy; Dusknoir. When the blast had cleared up, Axew and Cilan looked on in shock as Dusknoir had completely moved i.e. he had avoided the move. As Axew continued to look around in confusion, he was completely unaware of Dusknoir being right behind him. Suddenly, before anyone could warn him, Dusknoir crept up and used a powerful Shadow Punch move on Axew, the impact causing him to fly across the room. "Oh no, Axew!" Cilan continued to panic. "Hang in there!" As Axew struggled to get up Cilan really could now feel the heat. "Okay Dusknoir, I see you don't want to play nice; so neither will I. Pikachu attack Dusknoir once again with Thunderbolt!" Cilan commanded. Once again there was nothing Dusknoir could do to avoid the attack, therefore hitting him once again. "Great job there Pikachu!" However Cilan could see now that Dusknoir was also prepared to go even tougher on poor old Pikachu.

"Uh oh, it looks like Dusknoir is unhappy!"Cameron remarked. And he was most certainly right. Dusknoir confronted Pikachu, about to launch another powerful Shadow Punch move. Pikachu knew that on this occasion there was nothing he could do. However out of nowhere, Axew who had somehow managed to recover from the previous Shadow Punch, got up and launched another massive Dragon rage attack, leaving everyone in awe. The move immediately caused Dusknoir to faint, while Cilan could not believe his luck.

"Wow Axew that was awesome!" Cilan praised. "That was great teamwork by both of you! Thanks guys for turning up like that when I needed you more than ever."

"Yeah that was awesome out there guys!" Cameron added to the acclaim. "You really did hep each other out there!"

"Its fine," Pikachu remarked.

"Anytime," Axew added.

"Anyway we've better take the keys off Dusknoir, while it's still fainted," Cilan suggested. He walked over to where the stricken ghost type pokemon lay and gently tried to take the keys off it. Shortly after Dusknoir got up and now appeared to not be under the influence of the gigaremo. It was now just a normal wild dusknoir again. The dusknoir, now normal again, willingly gave Cilan the keys. "Wow thanks Dusknoir!" Cilan said to the dusknoir, who on that note vanished off into the wild.

"Well at least that dusknoir is alright now," Cameron said. "Surely everything is solved!"

"I guess so," Cilan replied. "But still we must try and destroy this gigaremo, just to play it safe. Now the question is which key is it to open up the gigaremo? He took an inspection of all of the keys; all of their shapes and sizes before confirming which one he thought was the right one. "This one looks like it fits perfectly," he examined before putting the key in, which opened up the gigaremo. As he opened up the gigaremo he could see several wires and buttons controlling the device. "Now which one of these could be the malfunctioning switch?" Cilan asked himself.

"Well you're meant to be the smart one here, surely you should know," Cameron remarked cheekily, which began to annoy Cilan.

"Really, well if that's your attitude then maybe you should try," Cilan replied arrogantly.

Cameron gulped. "Okay I will then, just watch me." However as Cameron took an inspection at the gigaremo's controls, he too looked pretty puzzled. In the end, just to try and impress Cilan, he tried to do the old 'eenie meenie miney mo' method going through all of the buttons, eventually pressing the button he landed on. He closed his eyes and pressed the button, hoping for the best.

Unfortunately all Cameron could hear was the controller voice inside the gigaremo conduct "Self-destruct mode activated. Self-destruct in ten minutes."

"CAMERON!" Cilan yelled. "How could you do this?"

"Well I'm sorry Cilan," Cameron defended. "But you shouldn't have trusted me in the first place."

"Look there's no point in bickering, we've got ten minutes to save everyone and get out of here safely."

"Why don't we just de-activate the self-destruct mode?" Cameron suggested.

"Okay then," Cilan replied. "You show us how then."

Cameron sighed. "Fine then we'll do it your way."

"That's what I thought. Anyway what are we waiting for?" Cilan rummaged through the keys again, eventually finding the one that opened the door where everyone had been trapped. "Here we go!" He opened the door but was shocked to see what looked like roughly fifty kids, all tied up, and about thirty pokemon. "Oh boy!" Cilan thought. "Okay we've better get a move on. Cameron, help me untie all these people!" Cameron and Cilan then began to untie the poor victims, who in return helped out untie all the others.

One of the victims Cameron managed to untie was his very own Lucario. "Lucario there you are!" Cameron cheered. "I'm so sorry I let Dusknoir capture you like that. It'll never happen again I swear! Anyway, you've got to help me untie all these people." Lucario helped out willingly as most of the people were now freed. In the end the last people to be saved were Ash and Iris who looked more than delighted to be freed as Cilan and Cameron untied them.

"Cilan, thank god you came for us!" Ash cheered.

"Its fine," Cameron replied.

"We thought we'd be stuck here forever!" Iris continued, sounding very relieved.

"Anyway are Pikachu and Axew fine?" Ash asked.

"Don't worry they're alright," Cilan calmed. "May have picked up a few scratches from the battling they had to do but other than that everyone's fine."

"Well that's great to here," Ash replied also sounding rather relieved.

However the trio's conversation was interrupted by the controller voice inside the gigaremo. "Two minutes until self-destruct," it commanded causing Cilan to get even more agitated.

"Is that everyone untied?" Cilan asked, starting to panic.

"We think so," Pikachu replied after a quick inspection.

"Then we better get out of here!" Cilan ordered. "Everyone follow me!" In all truthfulness, Cilan himself didn't have a complete clue where the exit was or where he was going as the house was now very dark seen as all the light caused by the gigaremo had now vanished. All he could do was pray that the direction he took was the right one and that eventually everyone would be out safely. "Ah here we are!" Cilan expressed as he finally found the way out. "Everyone, get out quickly! We don't have much time until the gigaremo explodes!"

Meanwhile, outside was Team Rocket, as they continued to watch the situation. "Er, come on guys, we've been out here for hours now yet nothing's happened. Mightn't we just go in now?" Meowth suggested.

"Now Meowth, be patient, our time will come eventually," James insisted. However he and the other two could only look on in shock as they saw everyone come out of the house. "What? What on earth is going on?"

"Everyone's leaving. How could this happen?" Jessie moaned.

However their misery continued as they saw in the midst of the whole crowd rushing out of the house were Ash, Iris and Cilan, Team Rocket's main enemies. "Hey it's the twerps!" Meowth complained. "They spoiled our party once again!"

"James, this is your entire fault!" Jessie proclaimed. "We should have gone inside earlier!"

"It's my fault? Like you guys did any of the work. I planned everything!" James protested.

"Yes you did plan everything James," Jessie replied. "And you failed!" However before they could continue their argument, they were disturbed by a massive explosion coming from the mansion. The explosion was so big it destroyed the whole mansion while the impact even went as far as the tree where Team Rocket were hiding out, causing them to be catapulted into the air.

"Looks like Team Rocket are blasting off again!" The trio said in unison as they did indeed take off, causing a twinkle in the dark night sky.

Back outside the mansion were a rather relieved Ash, Cilan, Iris and Cameron, as well as all the children that had been rescued. "Thanks for rescuing us Pansage!" The children thanked, while also slightly teasing Cilan for his costume.

Cilan however was able to laugh it off. "It's alright," He claimed. "Now all of you guys better take it safe out here. Your parents must all be very worried!"

"We will!" The young children assured.

However as they were about to walk off, one of them turned to Ash and Iris, who still happened to be wearing their matching outfits. "By the way are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?" The small kid asked. That question shook both of them, while the rest of the gang could not help but find the situation rather amusing. As all the other kids now turned round again, both trainers looked puzzled for how to reply.

However before Ash could say anything, Iris suddenly jumped in with an answer. "Yes, yes we are boyfriend and girlfriend. That explains for the matching outfits." Everyone, especially Ash, looked genuinely surprised at Iris' response.

"I thought so," the child responded rather cheekily, before rushing off. As all the other children ran off into the dark distance, Ash was rather confused at Iris' reply.

"Iris, why did you just say that we were boyfriend and girlfriend?" Ash asked slightly puzzled by Iris' recent action.

"Oh come on Ash, they're only little kids. Let them have their candy," Iris replied. "Why are you in any way disturbed?"

"Oh no, of course not," Ash replied. The truth was that he didn't mind at all. He liked being Iris' girlfriend, even if he was only a pretend one.

Now that all the children had gone, it was just the original quartet walking back through the forest, as well as their pokemon. And after what they had just encountered, Ash and Iris were certainly more than overjoyed to see their pokemon again. "Axew you're okay!" Iris exclaimed in relief, hugging her tusk partner pokemon rather tightly. "I was so worried!"

"Yeah thank goodness you're okay Pikachu!" Ash said graciously to his electric mouse partner pokemon. "I knew that I could rely on you!"

Both trainers then turned to Cilan and Cameron, the other two heroes who had helped save them. "And thank you guys for saving us back there!" They thanked together.

"Don't worry about it," Cameron replied.

"We were just doing our job," Cilan replied. "Anyway we should probably be going now. Halloween's not over just yet."

"You're right," Ash replied. "We should probably be getting back." The four of them now walked back with all the pokemon leading at the front, while Ash was at the back. However as he was walking along, slightly slower than the rest, he could feel a slight peck on his cheek. He looked to his side and was surprised to see Iris there.

"Hey Ash, thanks for keeping me company back there," Iris whispered to the rather star stuck Ash. "I really appreciate it."

At the moment Ash couldn't quite believe his luck. He didn't really know what to say or how to reply. "Er gee, you're welcome. I mean that's what friends are for right?"

"Well yeah, I mean if you're happy to see me as just a friend then sure."

"What no! I didn't mean it like that! Wait, what did you say?"

"Oh I was just wondering; do you see me as just a friend? Because I really like you Ash, the question is; do you like me back?"

"Well of course I do. We're friends right?"

Iris sighed again. "Ash that's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm really trying to say is, well; do you want to be my real boyfriend?"

Once again Ash couldn't believe his luck. "Of course I do. I always have. Besides, tonight has really brought us closer. I'd be honoured to be your real girlfriend."

"Sounds great then! We really should do something then sometime!"

"We should. But as Cilan said, Halloween's far from over. Let's just enjoy the rest of it as a couple."

"Yeah I guess you're right."

Their conversation though was then interrupted by Cilan up ahead. "Hey slowcoaches, come on!"

"Okay, we're just coming!" The duo both replied. They finally caught up with the rest of the gang.

Cilan took a look at the duo, wearing the similar costumes. "Well well, if it isn't the happy couple, wearing matching outfits too. Aren't they cute?" Both Ash and Iris looked down, they completely didn't realise that somehow they were holding hands. They immediately let go, hoping to not gain any more attention.

As the gang now were outside of the forest, it was about time for them to go back to the lodge. "So yeah I'd better be going now," Cameron insisted.

"Really, are you sure?" Cilan asked. "You're more than welcome to stay round ours for a bit."

"No thanks, I'll be alright. Besides I've got to a lot of training to do. Anyway see you guys later!"

"See you Cameron!" The trio waved Cameron goodbye as he and Lucario ran off into the distance.

"How could Cameron possibly be training at this hour, when it's Halloween?" Cilan asked, rather bemused.

"He sure does have a lot of determination," Ash responded.

"Yep, that's our Cameron!" Iris added.

As the trio entered the room, there was almost a sad sight as the whole decorated room just lay there, waiting for a victim to knock, which unfortunately, due to all the drama never occurred. "Well Cilan, I'm sorry that no one visited your horror house," Ash began. "Though in all fairness, you did do a pretty good job!"

"Thanks, Ash," Cilan replied. "And it's alright. Besides tonight was the most fun I've ever had on Halloween, even if we had no visitors. Also, before, Halloween was really turning me into somewhat of a jerk, tonight really taught me that Halloween isn't always about being the best around."

"You said it Cilan!" Ash expressed. "Now who's up for watching some horror films while it's still Halloween?"

"I'm in!" Iris began.

"Me too!" Cilan continued. "You can count me in."

"Question is what film should we watch?" Ash asked himself. "I think we should watch this film," he began, selecting the movie that Iris had tried to make him watch earlier, the one that was filmed at the Village of Dragons. "What do you guys think?"

"Sounds good to me!" Cilan expressed. "I'll just go and get us some snacks. Besides we have loads left over." As Cilan entered the kitchen it was now just Ash and Iris sitting on the couch, with Ash having one arm around Iris' shoulder.

"Hey guys are you going to watch the film?" Ash asked to both Pikachu and Axew.

"Nah you're alright," Axew replied as he saw Ash getting rather close to Iris.

"Yeah, we'll just go and play next door," Pikachu added.

"Er Iris, you are okay with watching this film for like the nine thousandth time, aren't you?" Ash asked.

"Of course I am," she replied. "Besides this is my favourite horror film. Thanks for choosing wisely."

"You're welcome," Ash replied. He then looked over at Iris before suddenly kissing her on the top of the head. Iris didn't mind though. She just smiled...

* * *

***gasp.* Finally, I finished it. Wow that was a long one! Too long for my liking. Next time I'll try to make it much shorter I promise. Anyway I hope you enjoyed that. I really did work hard on this story. It took me a long time to make and the process really did keep me up at night so I am so relived that I finished it in the end just in time for Halloween. PLEASE PLEASE review! Some reviews really would cheer me up now. It always pleases me reading reviews on stories that I've worked my arse off for so please give up a few minutes of your time to send a review on this story of mine which I gave up LOTS of time on. If you have any enquiries on this story then just say so in the review though please don't hate! I really worked hard on this story. Constructive criticism is adequate in my opinion but please don't go over the top with the hate. Still thanks to everyone who read this, it means a lot. I hope it got you in a spooky spirit, until you realise, just like me, that Christmas is just around the corner (YAY!) So that's it for now my friends, until the next time, this is me Chariazrd58 signing off.**

**BYEEEEEEEEEE!**

**P.S. Please check my profile page every now and then for notices.**


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